California wildfires: Number of missing leaps to 1,000 as death toll rises to 74 ahead of Trump visit

At least 71 people are confirmed to have died in a catastrophic wildfire in northern California while a further 1,000 are still missing, officials have said. Authorities attributed the high death toll from the so-called Camp Fire, which erupted last Thursday in the drought-parched Sierra foothills 175 miles north of San Francisco, in part to the staggering speed with which the wind-whipped flames raced with little warning through Paradise, a town of 27,000. Nearly 12,000 homes and buildings, including most of the town, were incinerated hours after the blaze erupted, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has said.